Spartans rebound from first loss with big win at Duluth Marshall

The Superior High School boys basketball team rebounded from its first lost of the season with a 64-34 win at Duluth Marshall Monday night.

The victory, along with Friday’s 55-50 loss to Eau Claire North, gives the Spartans an overall record of 4-1.

“I thought our kids responded well, it was good to play right away after our loss to North,” SHS coach Dave Kontny said. “We played very well defensively and gave them problems with our different defenses. Everyone played a lot and we got scoring from nine different guys.”

Joel Lindberg led the Spartans with a triple-double with 19 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Josh Kimmes was next with 15 points and 10 rebounds, Andrew Heytens added seven points, Alex Tunell had six, Zach Colvin and Nathaniel Knutson five apiece, Dustin Hobson two and Jake Turkowski made a free throw.

“Mike LaValley also had four points and 12 rebounds — at 5-foot-9, that’s a pretty good stat for a guy his size,” Kontny said.

The Spartans went into the game shorthanded with starter Rob Kraft sitting out with a hip injury. Turkowski’s tailbone is also bothering him and Superior lost Hobson with a sprained ankle.

“We were a bit beat up coming in so it was nice to get some scoring from some guys I have been waiting for to score for us,” Kontny said. “This was a big conference game worth four points because we only play them once. Give Marshall credit, they played hard the entire game and they are young and inexperienced. Coach Clark and his staff do a nice job there and they will give teams problems later in the year.”

Superior is 3-0 in the Lake Superior Conference with its 32nd straight conference victory and 22nd straight on the road against Minnesota teams.

Marshall (0-7, 0-2) got 10 points from Miklauscish and eight from Goldschmidt.

Superior is back in action next week at the Chippewa Falls Tournament The Spartans play Marshfield at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 and Wausau West at 7 p.m. on Dec. 30.

SPARTAN SPIN: Superior was 7-of-11 on free throws and got 3-point baskets from Colvin, Knutson, Heytens and Lindberg. … Marshall was 6-of-10 from the line. Superior led 34-18 at the half.

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